Those aboard the submersible, the highlight of a tourist expedition that costs US$250,000 per person, included British billionaire Hamish Harding and Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood with his son Suleman.
The 77-year-old French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet and Stockton Rush, founder and CEO of the vessel’s US-based operating company OceanGate, were also reported to be on board.
“We are very grateful for the concern being shown by our colleagues and friends and would like to request everyone to pray for their safety,” Dawood’s family said on Tuesday.
US and Canadian ships and planes began swarming the area on Monday about 1,450km east of Cape Cod, some dropping sonar buoys that can monitor waters to a depth of 3,962m, Mauger said on Monday.
“We are deploying all available assets to make sure that we can locate the craft and rescue the people on board,” he said. “It is a remote area and it is a challenge to conduct a search in that remote area.”
He said that officials had asked commercial vessels to help.
The wreckage of the Titanic that sank in 1912 after hitting an iceberg lies at a depth of about 3,810m. The Titan submersible usually takes two hours to descend to the wreck.
OceanGate Expeditions, the private company that operates the submersible, said that it was “mobilising all options” to rescue those aboard the Titan.
Mauger said that OceanGate Expeditions is leading the search efforts with Coast Guard assets brought into the site.
“They know that site better than anybody else,” Mauger said on NBC. “We’re working very closely with them to prioritise our underwater search efforts and get equipment there.”
Asked if he was optimistic that the tourists could be found alive, Mauger said that crews were focused on finding the people on board and the capabilities needed to continue the search.
He also declined to confirm the identity of anyone on board, citing privacy issues.
The US Coast Guard said on Twitter that a boat on the surface – the Polar Prince – lost contact with the submersible about one hour and 45 minutes after it began diving to the site of the Titanic wreckage on Sunday.
Source: CNA
